Thursday, 6 December 2012

On the 4th day of Christmas, Domestic Sluttery gave to me... a gorgeous necklace from Accessories Online!

Every Christmas needs a little something shiny, and what better than an Alex Monroe necklace? Our friends at Accessories Online have given us this gorgeous silver bicycle necklace to give away to one lucky winner! It's worth over £170 and it even has tiny ruby and diamond lights in it. And yes, in case you were wondering, the wheels do spin around.

Want to win this (you might have to fight us to the death for it), then just leave a comment below answering this question: what's the first thing you unwrap on Christmas day? Do you have a stocking? Do you go for the biggest present? Or do you have a tradition of opening just one thing on Christmas eve?

Becuase this is a super amazing prize, you can have an extra entry for sharing on Twitter. Just tweet the following:

You've got until midnight to enter and then we'll pick a winner at random and announce in tomorrow's competition. Wondering who won the Hunkydory Home cushions yesterday? That was Sian E Williams! Here's her favourite Nativity memory:

"I think the best nativity had to be in school when I was about 5. I got home and told my mother I was going to be a Bethlehem person and so to make my costume she had me lie on a bit of brown sheet to cut around and used an old white stiff cotton sheet for a headdress by just placing it around my head and securing a popper. Come the night she was sitting in the church and heard everyone say 'oo here comes Mary' she turns around and to her horror it was me. She said if I had told her she would have made more effort with my costume, bless her."

Good luck today, everyone!

Oh yawn, small print (read it). The competition will close at midnight (UK time) December 6th. You must be UK based to enter, sorry you lovely overseas readers. If you're anon your entry won't count and if you enter more than once, we'll discount all of your entries and tell you off. The winning entry will be chosen at random and you must claim your prize by the 7th or it'll be passed to someone else. We're not allowed to enter our own competitions but Siany starts with the tiny tiny presents first.

My family has a very specific routine. Only Christmas stockings on Christmas morning (whilst drinking Bucks Fizz), presents from immediate family after lunch (whilst drinking champagne) and all other presents (friends and distant family) after lunch on Boxing Day (whilst eating tins of chocolates!)

The first thing I unwrap on Christmas morning is the present from my Mum and Dad. Usually accompanied by a glass of Bucks Fizz and a warm croissant and some Rat Pack Christmas songs playing in the background.

I have 3 kids so I watch them open their presents first! I really wouldn't mind if I had no presents, as I just get wrapped up in the whole magic of it all. All our troubles fogotten for that little while. Apart from the kids the best present I ever got was the deeds to an acre of the moon :) Merry Christmas to you all and have a wonderful holiday season :) Vicki~ xx

A certain someone who will remain nameless hasn't got the best taste in pressies (I know, I know, it's the thought that counts) so I always try and get that one over with first... (Oh and living in a house with 3 bike mad boys (hubby and 2 sons) this necklace would be PERFECT for me...)

I visit my pony before everyone else is up so his present is the first I open each year. My over half dropped some stuff up to the yard for me the other day and had got this years present with him. Imagine his face she I shouted 'Don't let him see that it's for Christmas!'. Bonkers.

I usually unwrap my dogs presents for them first (yes, i buy them presents and wrap them lol) this keeps my furry monsters happy so i can open my gifts in peace (I usually start with the smallest presents first too)

I open my new PJs-shaped present on Christmas Eve. There's nothing cosier than sipping some bubbles in new fluffy pyjamas watching the midnight mass! If I am lucky, sometimes there are a fluffy pair of socks inside too!

It is ALWAYS my stocking first! When we spent Christmas with my mother's side of the family we would always have to wait until after lunch to open presents, as my grandfather was a surgeon and he'd have to go and do his morning rounds before lunch. Even after he retired we still stuck with it.

My family open all our presents at midnight on Christmas eve, then have a lovely long lie on Christmas day and open our stockings when we get up before getting ready to head out for lunch. Might be a bit of a backward way to do things, but it means Chrismas day is really nice and chilled out! x

We always open our stocking first that Father Christmas delivers outside our rooms (at my parents house) Then we go downstairs to see if Father Christmas has left presents in the front room (led by my father) and then open them. Then we hand out presents from each other under the tree, whilst trying to stop the puppy from getting into our already opened presents. By the way, I am 27!! It will be such fun!

I still get a stocking with silly little presents in, which have to be opened before breakfast, whilst still in pyjamas and with wonderfully attractive bed hair. It's that moment of still being a child before putting on the pretty dress & sparkly earrings for an adult christmas (good food & sparkling wine!)

We do some presents on Christmas eve with family that we won't see on Christmas day BUT Christmas morning, the first thing we unwrap is a small bar of dairy milk each, pour a baileys and get cracking on the presents, BIGGEST first!!

I'm from Turkey and moved to the UK 3 years ago - we don't celebrate Christmas in Turkey so I'm still excited about all Christmas stuff, decorations, gifts and the spirit here ! I open all my present at the same time :)) And mostly eat my advent calendar in couple of days...

I insist on having a cup of tea before I open anything but I love watching the kids open theirs. They're still a bit non-plussed with the satsuma at the end but I'm not letting that tradition die out in our house!

On Christmas Day, the first thing I open is a packet of bacon for tasty sandwiches (that's a present in itself!) - as for 'real' gifts, I usually open the biggest one first because it's usually the smaller ones that are the best and I like the anticipation :)

We still have stockings too. My sister and I now give stockings to Mum and Dad, and Christmas morning starts with us all in our pyjamas having a cup of tea and opening our stockings. We don't open the presents from under the tree until lunch is cooking and we've cracked open a bottle of fizz!

This year we've got a Finn coming to stay, so we'll have Finnish Christmas on Christmas Eve, with a few small presents, and then the whole Christmas Day celebration as well!

i pass out all the presents and then wait till the very end to open mine, but i open the one i havent guessed as i put it aside. i love the anticipation feel. though normally i only get 1 present as everyone else gives me voucher so it normally a box of chocolate lol. what i would give for it to be a diamond necklace - ive only hinted to the hubby for 20 years.

As I was growing up I was always desperate to open a present on Christmas Eve - the rule was that I was allowed one after the late-night service at Church.Now I'm grown-up, single and still having Chritmas with my wondeful parents - my lovely Dad always forces a present on me before bed on Christmas eve! I have to open it - it's tradition! Seems I accidentally started the tradition on my own! I really miss having a stocking though - nothing feels quite the smae as crinkly presents in a lurid knitted tube with an orange at the bottom!

We have a tradition of opening a new Christmas CD first so that we can play it while we open the rest of our presents and eat breakfast. This year it's my turn to buy it so i am scouring the shops for the cheesiest one I can find!

Usually, I open small presents first then move on to bigger ones, but last year as my boyfriend was in Japan we skype opened presents at 1am my time Christmas morning, I remember having to open the presents quietly so I didn't wake anyone in the house. As we are spending Christmas together this year I will definitely open his presents first.

I always unwrap my husband first from the duvet (before the kiddos wake) then its unwrapping "bed bedlam" while they unwrap their presents - once its quietened down, the first gifts i will unwrap, will be the ones the children give me, which invariably I have picked, paid for and wrapped - all the while having a huge look of surprised on my face!

We were, and therefore are still, not allowed any Christmas eve presents. I'm bringing back stockings for adults - that's Christmas stockings for adults, not the other kind of Christmas stockings for adults - but on that note I try to guess my gifts and if I suspect anything remotely erm, 'saucy' from my boyfriend, that is what gets opened first before the family make an appearance. The last thing I want on Christmas day is to unwrap is a sexy bra in front of my mum...

Like most people, I unwrap the smallest present first, or the ones which are obviously (for example) a book. If I can't guess what something is by looking at it I like the suspense of guessing what it might be while I unwrap the others.

we still have stockings, though these have ceased to be placed at the end of the bed after I had a fit of overexcitement and opened everything at 4am one year. Nowadays, we wrap up warm and head down to the sitting room where we curl up by the fire and unwrap the stockings over croissants and coffee.

Previous years it has always been all about opening the stocking gifts first, usually I just rummage around at random and grab whatever feels most interesting (ie not nail varnish shaped!). When I did Christmas morning at home this would also involve negotiating with my sisters "I'm opening the small box, which is square now" - to make sure we opened the same shaped things at the same time (to cover where my mum had bought identical things...she loves 3-for-2 offers!).

But this year is my first Christmas with my lovely cats (Leo and Gus), so I expect my first present to unwrap will be something for them (yes, I really am wrapping up some cat treats for them) to placate them before I can grab the stocking off the end of the bed.

Stockings and something bubbly in quick succession. Followed by any gifts that look really obvious (books, DVDs, you know the sort). I tend to get my mother-in-law's out of the way early (last year; a packet of plastic folder insert thingies, what joy!). Gifts from my husband are always last, as they're most likely to be something I lust for. I guess I'm a delayed gratification kinda gal!

I'm a bit old for it now, but the very first thing I used to open was a letter from Santa. He'd always leave a note thanking us for the mince pies, carrot for Rudloph and chocolate tree decoration that I insisted on leaving out. I am a determined Santa apologist, and cried when I found out he wasn't real. (My Dad had to tell me!) Occasionally I look for a letter on Christmas morning, and then remember that I'm in my twenties...

Stockings and bucksfizz always first. Having two Christmases this year as my brothers girlfriend is joining us on boxing day from Germany and wants to experience a British Christmas Day. Double stockings and bucksfizz then. Brilliant!

Always the stocking, whilst still in bed. Because my sister and I used to get similar stuff, being only 2 years apart, we had to stay in our separate bedrooms until all presents open, in case we spoiled each other's surprises! We shared Mam & Dad out to watch as well.

But, this year will be 1st Christmas at home with the Boy, just the two of us, so we'll get to invent a whole new set of traditions, which will be excellent. I will be reading these comments for ideas!

the gift from my lovely chap - while eating scrambled eggs on toast - this year I'll be waiting to open pressie til lunchtime as going to see my brother and his family are over from Australia - Im v excited to see them (not seen the nieces for 6 years!)

Stockings first, sitting on my parents bed with my siblings (once I've dragged my brother out of bed!). I think this is the last year we're having stockings, so it'll be a bit bittersweet, but probably fair enough as we're 24, 22 and 17 now! The rules have relaxed a bit over presents in my family - when I was a kid we weren't allowed to open stockings until after EVERYONE had finished breakfast and was ready to come and watch, which took forever, and no presents until after tea which meant I opened my presents at about 7pm and then had to go straight to bed...My granny has very firm ideas about Christmas!

Since I was little I've always picked a little present from my stocking first... And every single year it turns out to be knickers! Not complaining, as I love a good pair of knickers, but for the first present, when excitement has been building up for so long it's a little bit of an anticlimax! Every single year. What are the odds?

I may be 26 but I still can't wait to rip open my stocking presents on Christmas morning! It's a bit ridiculous but I get more excited about my stocking than any of my other larger gifts (whoops). It's always crammed with accessories and tiny beauty bits, they may be little but they're definitely the most fun! Tara (@Englishian) xoxo

The first thing I unwrap on Christmas Day is myself, from the tangled nest of sleeping bag/sofa cushion/camping mat on the living room floor of whichever family member is hosting Christmas that year. It's generally cold, I never sleep well on the hard floor and I *always* have a sore head from Christmas Eve reunions.

I'm afraid to say the first thing we have to unwrap is a roll of black bags. Growing up, my mum used to go absolutely mad is there was any stray wrapping paper left strewn about after excited present opening - it has to go straight into the bin liner after each present is opened. Bah humbug!

At the grand old age of 29 my sister and I have been keeping the stocking tradition alive in our house, and now all of us (mum and dad icluded) contribute a couple of things for a truly eclectic and nutso stocking experience! So this is the first thing attacked once I've got the hangover to die down...Last year the highlight was a 'Tom from Father Ted' costume includng and I SHOT JR tshirt, and a stick on monobrow which we all wore proudly all day long!

Usually we (me and the boyfriend) get a stocking from his auntie on Christmas Day morning, which will be filled with lots of stuff (chocolates, socks, hand lotions eg). But if I can (and I will this year) I also celebrate 'Swedish Christmas', which is on Christmas Eve, and I might open a present then... ~ Sara (littlemissplump at hotmail co dot uk)

The first thing I open is the smoked salmon, swiftly followed by the Champagne - well, it IS Christmas, darling. We're not allowed to open presents until just before lunch, but I save the most beautifully wrapped ones until last.

First thing opened = stocking. My brother's girlfriend is coming for Christmas this year so I get to help put one together for her. When you're the only girl with (impossible to buy for) brothers, being able to contribute towards a girl's stocking is really rather fun :)

On Christmas morning I always just want to open the BIG presents first, but I always do the polite thing and start with cards, then move onto the small presents and leave the big ones til last. I like to build up the suspense... God I love Christmas!!!!

At the grand age of 34 my parents still make both myself and my sister stockings. They ALWAYS get opened first and now always contain a wrapped scary vegetable from my parents garden. Think MONSTER parsnips!

Now that I've got a family of my own, I've made a few little opening traditions to keep things interesting for my kids - and allow myself time for coffee (with a splash of amaretto) before I have the inevitable task of pulling out the screwdriver to assemble toys and building lego diggers.

On Christmas Eve, we all open a present consisting of new pyjamas before cuddling up on the sofa to watch Muppet's Christmas Carol.

On Christmas morning we open stockings before breakfast, which is served with a cheeky buck's fizz, before diving into the pile that is left at random. Manic, but fun.

Christmas is family time in our house so my mum, dad, sister and I go to see my uncle who lives up the road on Christmas Eve. Then we all go to Midnight Mass then come home and open one gift before going to bed. Generally we open the gift that we have just received from our uncle and wait for Christmas morning to bring out the big guns!

I unwrap the turkey first and sling it in the oven! Then the croissants and bucks fizz, bit of a food theme..then the stockings. I'd LOVE to have this necklace in my stocking, pick me!! Merry Christmas, Sarah x

My brother and sister and I are always much more interested in watching everyone else open their presents, so we each have to be coaxed to open ours. And we don't pick up our gifts to open ourselves - so it's whatever is handed to me first!